This short Digital Transformation World 2022 Post-show report consists of facts, figures and DEVEO’s opinions.
Biggest show to date!
TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World (DTW) has just had their biggest edition to date! This niche OSS/BSS show recently moved to Copenhagen (it used to be held in Nice, France).
We heard a couple of minor moans from people who were missing their annual trip to the south of France, but in general the change has been well received. It was supposed to have moved to Denmark back in 2020, but due to the pandemic we’re only seeing it in its new venue for the first time now.
New venue
The change of venue meant that the show itself had more room (or it certainly felt like that anyway!). It was lighter, brighter, greener and extremely well organised. The halls were spacious & the customer experience was excellent.
DTW will return to Copenhagen again next year 19-21 September, with DTW Asia taking place in Bangkok 14-16 March.
We also heard a rumour that many ex-GSMA employees have recently joined TM Forum and are bringing their experience and knowledge to help create a really special show.
Facts and figures
There were over 3100 attendees, coming from 110 countries over 6 continents… we strongly suspect that Antarctica is the missing continent 😊.
Quality of attendees?
What about the seniority of the attendees? Well, TM Forum has claimed that 329 people came from CSPs and were VP level or above. A whopping 55% were director level or above.
But how does that relate to our experience & our clients’ feedback? We think spot on! In fact, we heard repeatedly from a satisfied audience that the quality and quantity of attendees were high this year.
Networking, networking, networking!
The cost of a ticket is expensive, however this helps to keep standards high. In the evenings there were numerous opportunities for networking. TM Forum had privatised bars and other areas in the city, and these events were all included in the ticket price. Food, drink and so on was all included in the ticket price too. The result of this was that people did not need to leave the area to eat or socialise & so the opportunities for networking with industry peers was greatly enhanced.
Like so many shows that have taken place recently (IBC, Network X etc.) there has been a real sense of joy at being able to do business face-to-face again.
New players & old
Interestingly, out of the 146 unique companies, around 1/3 were ‘first-timers’. It was something that we noticed – there were definitely a lot of start-up companies attracted to DTW this year.
The ‘big boys’ were also there in force, with DTW actively pushing collaboration with hyper scalers like AWS who were one of their principle sponsors for 2022). Other big names included Amdocs, Ericsson, Google Cloud (who recently joined the TM Forum), HPE, Netcracker, Nokia & Oracle were all in attendance.
Fun fact!
Finally, there were 4000 cups of coffee served at the show, so when sales contact you asking if you want to “meet for a coffee and a chat” they meant it! They are either really trying to deliver on their promises or kill you with caffeine – you decide!
What were the main topics and hot news?
We’ve seen a real shift in the subject matter at DTW over recent years. We’ve moved on from talking about smart cities to a robust discussion around cloud, virtualisation and automation.
Cloud Native
While focussing on the cloud, TM Forum itself describes the concept of Open Digital Architecture:
“ODA replaces traditional OSS/BSS with a new approach to building software for the telecoms industry, opening a market for standardized, cloud-native software components, and enabling communication service providers and suppliers to invest in IT for new and differentiated services instead of maintenance and integration”
TM Forum
Transition from Telco to Tech
There were a lot of conversations about how Telcos could continue to reinvent themselves, in effect continuing to make the transition from Telcos into Tech companies. Often this means getting into bed with unlikely partners, for example SpaceX joining with T-Mobile to provide satellite connectivity.
We are still hearing about how Telcos want to move away from legacy systems to create smaller, more agile units, but continue to have problems (both technical and human). This is a strong theme that is not changing anytime soon.
5G Monetisation
And no show based around CSPs would be complete without considering the problems that 5G monetisation is still posing. The Telcos are reluctant to get on board with use cases that may or may not be profitable.
Are you going to DTW next year?
We hope you enjoyed reading our short Digital Transformation World 2022 Post-show report. Let’s see how things progress by this time next year! Finally, if you are planning on attending DTW in 2023 then let us know. Deveo can help you get the most out of this show by prearranging meetings with your target audience.
